“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Sunday, October 14, 2007

If You Go Into The Woods Today …

A Euro Crime-shaped birdie brings us the glad tidings that Tana French’s IN THE WOODS has scooped the 2007 International Visual Communications Association ‘Book Award’. Quoth the IVCA blurb elves:
“Tana French’s brilliantly crafted first novel embodies, in its story of a murder on an archaeological site in Ireland, a fascinating critique of human emotions, social mores, environmental issues and complex personal motivation. IN THE WOODS is an immediate, sometimes moving but always compelling reinvention of our most popular genre – the murder mystery.”
It’s yet another feather in the rakishly angled French cap, which was once a suitably modish beret but is now starting to take on the proportions of Sitting Bull’s favourite ceremonial headdress. A fashion faux pas? Perhaps – but what the hell else is a gal supposed to do with those blummin’ feathers, eh?

No comments: